His remains, a skullcap of similar size to that found by Dubois, was discovered by Berlin-born paleontologist GHR vonKoenigswald in 1936, as a direct result of excavations by Dubois in 1891.
Until older human remains were discovered in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, Dubois' and Koenigswald's discoveries were the oldest hominid remains ever found, and the first cited as support for Charles Darwin's and Alfred Russell Wallace's theory of evolution.
Many scientists of the day even suggested that Dubois' Java Man might have been the so-called "missing link", the creature that is supposed to provide the evolutionary connection between the apes and modern man. However, due to 19th Century skepticism, this theory was never credited to Dubois.
The specimen that Ralph regarded as his most important discovery, namely the upper jaw of Sangiran IV with its large palate and diastema (or space between the upper canine and first premolar), Mrs VonKoenigswald kept in her pocket throughout the Japanese occupation.
Because of Koenigswald's foresight, all of the Javanese hominid fossils survived the war.
At the end of hostilities, a weakened Koenigswald was released and he was re-united with his family and all of 'his specimens', save for one of the Solo skulls from Ngandong.
Meanwhile, Gustav H. RalphvonKoenigswald (1902-1982) was appointed to a post as paleontologist to the Geological Survey Service in Java in 1930, and between 1931 and 1941 announced a number of important fossil discoveries..
One of vonKoenigswald's assistants brought him a piece of a Pithecanthropus skull in 1937.
G.H.R. vonKoenigswald's comments about Piltdown were prophetic, pointing out that all discoveries since 1917 had contradicted the idea that humans had an ancestor with a modern brain and ape jaw.
PALAEOBLOG: Born This Day: Gustav Heinrich Ralph Von Koenigswald(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
German paleontologist and geologist G.H. RalphvonKoenigswald is best known for his work on early primate ancestors of humans, such as Pithecanthropus, Giganopithicus fli, and Hemanthropus.
The war also caught up with vonKoenigswald, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Java.
His precious collection of Gigantopithecus teeth - at that point, the only known specimens of the fossil ape - spent the war years in a milk bottle buried in a friend's backyard on the island”.
Macromolecules(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
1924-1928 Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin (Augsburg, Germany, 1873 - 1964) develops his studies on vitamin A and carotene, using marked vitamin A. 1925 Joseph Barcroft (Glen, Newry, 1872 - 1947) while studying the role of hemoglobin in blood, demonstrates its storage and release by organs such as the spleen.
1928 Albert von Szent-Györgyi (Budapest, Hungary, 1893 - 1986) pioneering the study of biological oxidation mechanisms, isolates from adrenals a substance that he later found to be identical with vitamin C. He names the product, now known as ascorbic acid, hexuronic acid.
1933 Gustav Georg Embden (1874 - 1933) and Otto Meyerhof (Hannover, 1884 - 1951) establish the nature of crucial intermediates in the chemical pathway of glycolysis and fermentation.
Sangiran, a region just 15 kilometers north of Surakarta (Solo), Central Java, is rich in archaeological finds that could unlock the secrets of our ancestors.
Dubbed Homo erectus Park by the Minister of Culture and Tourism I Gede Ardika, Sangiran became famous after human fossils closely resembling the Pithecanthropus erectus (upright ape-man) were unearthed at the site by German geologist and paleontologist, GustavHeinrichRalphvonKoenigswald, in 1934.
The first Pithecanthropus fossil, now known as Homo erectus, was first discovered about 40 years before by Dutch doctor Eugene Dubois in the gravel of the Solo River near Trinil in Central Java.
